


Bring a Few Fond Memories

by Im_The_Doctor (Bofur1)



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Christmas Fluff, Everything is Beautiful and Nothing Hurts, F/M, Fluff and Mush, Gen, Gift Giving, Gingerbread Houses, Interspecies Relationship(s), POV The Doctor (Doctor Who), Rose likes the Fourth Doctor's scarf and the Third Doctor's coat, Stockings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-19
Updated: 2014-11-19
Packaged: 2018-02-26 06:08:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2640965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bofur1/pseuds/Im_The_Doctor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Doctor always assumes that Christmas will end in trouble and he's usually right. Still, a few small Christmas traditions with Rose in the TARDIS can't harm anything, can they?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bring a Few Fond Memories

“It’s that time again, Doctor,” Rose commented as she leaned over the Doctor’s shoulder and peered at the TARDIS console monitor at the snow outside. “Christmas. What’re we going to do?”

“Well, we’re _not_ going to go outside,” the Doctor declared, pushing the monitor away from him. “Christmas always ends up making trouble for us.”

“But I won’t be able to get you a gift if I’m stuck in here!” Rose protested, following the Doctor as he moved around the console, pushing buttons and pulling levers to take them away from whatever planet they were on at the moment.

“Yes, I know, it’s alright. I’m fine without a gift this time. Unless...” The Doctor’s blue eyes lifted even beneath his knit brows. “You aren’t going to be disappointed if I don’t get _you_ something?”

Rose answered by gnawing on her lower lip and hugging her arms close to her chest.

Stifling a small sigh, the Doctor conceded, “We’ll do stockings, okay? But only those.”

Her potential sulk shooed away, Rose nodded eagerly. “Alright! Let’s go back to Earth, cos I already have an idea.”

As soon as the telltale rumble of landing stopped, Rose ran around the TARDIS, searching for her scarf. “Ugh, I can’t find it anywhere! I left it in the dressing room, but the TARDIS moved that too!”

“Try where the kitchen usually is,” the Doctor suggested. “She likes to stuff it in there sometimes.” As Rose took off in that direction, the Doctor knocked his knuckles lightly against the console and scolded his machine, “What’s that for, eh? I thought we agreed you would stop doing that to her.

The TARDIS hummed and shoved back against his fingers quite unapologetically, making the Doctor even more curious as to why she was meddling.

Rose’s voice signaled her return before she appeared. “I couldn’t find my scarf, Doctor, or my coat...”

“Sorry,” the Doctor grimaced as he turned and was brought to a very abrupt halt by the sight of Rose.

“...So I’m using these,” his companion finished, flipping the many extra lengths of the colorful scarf over her velvet-clad shoulder. She saw the frozen look on the Doctor’s face and asked hesitantly, “Is that alright?”

Uprooting his feet after a moment of struggle, the Doctor approached, looking her up and down. After a moment he took the worn edge of the scarf in one hand and the green sleeve of the ruffled velvet jacket in the other. He remained silent for a long moment and then a smile tugged at his lips.

“Yeh, that’s alright, Rose. That’s fantastic.”

Beaming at the well-used phrase, Rose hugged him briefly and then bolted out of the TARDIS onto the streets of her homeworld. As soon as the TARDIS doors shut behind her, the Doctor turned and gave his TARDIS a long lecture about meddling, with an unsaid thank-you behind it for bringing up a few fond memories.

 

*+*+*+*

Though he was a Time Lord, one with boundless energy, The Doctor himself also the one who was shaken awake quite early the next day

“The one day I choose to actually sleep for a change,” he muttered as Rose poked and prodded at him.

“You should’ve known better. Everyone gets up early on Christmas!” she whispered excitedly

“Why’re you whispering? There’s no one else to disturb here,” the Doctor pointed out, relenting and kicking away his TARDIS-blue blanket.

“Because it makes it more fun,” Rose answered defiantly in normal tones.

Despite the early hour, The Doctor couldn’t help but smile. “Alright, fine,” he said in a whisper. “Let’s open our stockings.”

“You go to the console room and I’ll meet you there once I’m ready,” Rose ordered. “That’s how my family always does it.”

Not really minding that he was going to be waited on, the Doctor plodded toward the console room and sat down on one of the steps. Rose joined him soon enough, carrying the black sock he had let her use.

“What...?” he started to ask, staring at the enormous gold and silver bow that had been taped to the stocking.

“Black isn’t festive,” Rose explained in a chiding tone. “I’ve never seen a Christmas stocking that didn’t have some little Santas or reindeer or bells - anything that was Christmasy, really - stitched into it until you gave me yours.” Sitting down next to him, Rose rested her elbows on her knees and gestured eagerly. “Now open it.”

The Doctor made a big show of pulling out his sonic screwdriver and pointing it at the bow, ready to unravel it with the push of a button. Rose snatched the sonic out of his hand just in time, forcing him to untie the bow the old-fashioned way before pulling out the contents of the sock - what he could grab in one hand, at least.

“Candy?” he asked in surprise as he came up with a handful of brightly labeled sweets - most of them yellow, he noticed. When he flipped one over, he found it was taffy. The flavor made him smile immediately and glance up at Rose, repeating one of his other catchphrases: “Bananas are good.”

Rose nodded eagerly and couldn’t resist any longer, diving into his stocking and helping him sort out the chocolate-flavored treats from the banana-flavored ones. When they were piled into a big mass in front of him, the Doctor blinked a few times and announced, “I’m never going to be able to eat all of this, Rose.”

“Don’t worry,” Rose blew the statement off. “I’m prepared.”

As if on cue, a ding sounded somewhere in the TARDIS. Rose leapt to her feet and ran for the kitchen, ignoring the Doctor’s demand, “What’ve you been making, Rose? Do you wanna start another fire?!”

“Don’t talk like that!” Rose scolded above the banging of the oven door. “I worked very hard on this and I don’t want you spoiling it!”

The Doctor’s eyes went very wide as she returned, her mitted hands balancing a tray with four gingerbread slabs and two piping bags atop it.

“We get to assemble the TARDIS!” Rose said gleefully as she lowered the tray so the Doctor could see the familiar police-box shapes and patterns. “And we can decorate it with your candy!”

That they did, carefully icing the gingerbread slabs together and showering candy onto them. For a little while there was a battle, when Rose threatened the Doctor’s leather jacket with melting chocolate, but other than that it was comfortably quiet between them.

“It looks...” The Doctor paused, his grin edged with white frosting that had somehow found its way into his mouth before the gingerbread project’s completion. “I’ll let you do the honors, Rose.”

“Fantastic?” Rose tried, rubbing one of her blond locks between thumb and forefinger and unknowingly whitening its edge with icing.

“Yep.” The Doctor sighed in satisfaction as he studied the mini TARDIS. Then he jumped a little, gasping, “I forgot to give you yours! It’s a little late now...”

“I still want it!” Rose urged, pushing him up and off in one direction. He returned soon with her snowflake-sprinkled stocking, stammering a little.

“It was kinda last-minute, I didn’t really have time to...y’know, really think it out...II don’t know if you’ll like it...”

“Just give it here, Doctor,” Rose cut in, snatching it away from him and reaching inside. There she found a lumpy white paper bag, its top folded over. When she unfolded it and turned the bag upside-down, she found her palm occupied by -

“Jelly babies?” she asked in surprise.

The Doctor nodded, explaining, “They’ve always been a favorite of mine. When we were decoratin’ the gingerbread, the thought came to mind that we could put them on it, but...” The both of them glanced at the overloaded candy box.

“Well, Doctor, we have some time,” Rose started before trailing off.

The Doctor slowly picked it up. “And I guess we can’t _get_ any messier...” **  
**

Almost identical smiles grew on their faces as they suggested in unison, “Let’s make another!”


End file.
